Monday, 23 February 2015

​“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Invitation

This table is spread

For the old and the young

For the long-timers and the new-comers

For those who feel at home and those who are just settling in

It is the table of our Lord

Where grace is extended to all

So come and join the feast

You for whom this is new

And you who do this often

Here, know the grace of God

embraces you.

Feel welcome, valued and affirmed

As God meets us here in bread and in wine.

Narrative

Jesus gathered friends around him

To teach, to heal,

to live, to love, to laugh

Over meals they shared stories and created memories together.

And the night he was betrayed, sharing supper with his friends,

Jesus took bread,

He broke it, blessed it and shared it

And said: Do this to remember me

As he passed around the cup after supper

He said: This cup tells of a new relationship made possible with God

Drink this to remember me.

Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup

you remember my dying for you.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

God we bring you our thanks today for memories

Memories created with loved ones now lost

Memories created new every day with those with whom we now share life

You are a God who never forgets

A God who loves us - not because of who we have been

Or because of our potential

But because of who we are now

Your beloved children

You welcome us to this table

Those of us for whom this is a familiar ritual

And those of us for whom it is new

You welcome us

And you give every moment new significance

Finding ourselves known and loved and welcomed at your table

we bring with us today

those who feel rejected

those who have never known a place set for them at any table

and those whose memories of table

are too far in the past to remember

or so traumatic that they have tried to forget.

We bring those who feel their value is only in what they can bring

who have never known themselves valued for who they are.

As we meet your generosity here

we pray for those who withhold from others

what is rightfully theirs.

For all those we exclude or overlook in our everyday.

May our experience of sharing at your table today

transform us in the way we make room for others

and in the way that we recreate memories

that honour your love shown for us here in the symbols of bread and wine

your body broken for us, your love poured out.

So send your Spirit on this bread and wine that we share,

May we be fed, nourished, held and changed.

May our horizons be expanded

our certainties challenged

and our memories made new

as we meet you in this feast.

Amen

Fraction

Jesus, the night he was betrayed, took bread, blessed it broke it and shared it.

We do this to remember him.

After supper, he took the cup, symbol of a new start with God. Sharing it, he said:

Do this to remember me.

We meet Jesus here and celebrate the generosity of God.

Break this bread. Drink this cup. Make room for others.

Know God's welcome healing you today.

Prayer after communion

At your table O God we find welcome.

At your table we find healing.

At your table we find grace enough to spill over into our daily lives.